Parvati Shallow Breaks Down 'Survivor: Second Chance': Paranoia and Clamgate

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The cast of 'Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance'

Season 31 of the CBS reality show features returning castmembers who were chosen by viewers.

Parvati Shallow is a 'Survivor' champ and three-time competitor on the show. Find her on Twitter @parvatishallow.

They say that life is defined by moments in time. As seen on Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance, these moments can be times of great heroism, like Joe's everyday life, or they can be times of complete and epic failure, like Fishbach's immunity challenge performance. Usually, we know which moments matter — graduating from college, the birth of a child or our first heartbreak. And sometimes, when we are driven by fear, we are not even aware that these defining moments of our lives are even happening — like Abi pushing away her closest ally. Well, this episode of Survivor had some standout moments that I feel compelled to dig into.

1. Abi jumps to the conclusion thatWoo is using the story of his mother’s heart transplant to gain sympathy from Tasha and Savage. The moment when Abi pulls Tasha into the jungle for some girl talk may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Tasha is getting fed up with Abi's constant need for attention and reassurance, and she's losing trust and faith in the Brazilian firecracker day by day. My take is that Abi is not aware that the way she is relating to people causes damage to their relationship. Woo is so open-hearted and grateful to be there that the contrast is stark. If Abi can stop the paranoia and relax for a few more days, she may just make it to the merge and go all the way. But for now, she's skating on thin ice.

2. Spencer becomes the hero of his own story. I like watching Spencer grow into himself this season. He got knocked around a lot on his first season and played with insane gamers like Tony, so Spencer didn't have a chance to get into the beauty of living off the land and developing authentic bonds. This game is a very different story for Spencer. He's pushing himself to grow, and he's changing the behaviors that once made him a target. He's talking strategy less, he's emoting more and having real conversations. It looks to me like Spencer may just be Jeremy's right-hand man on Bayon. And after Monica's blindside, Spencer's in an even more secure spot.

3. Clamgate. Sometimes, not being in the moment can be your undoing. Monica is thinking too far ahead, and her concern for conserving nature's bounty rubs Kimmi the wrong way. Her perception of her relationship with Kimmi is also way off. It looks like Monica really feels that she can trust Kimmi and Kelly, but, when she runs back to tell the boys about Monica’s girl alliance treachery, we can see that Kimmi’s true loyalty lies with Jeremy and Stephen. If Monica could have been more present to reality, she may have been able to read Kimmi better and save herself.

Now that we have broken down the top three moments of this episode, we can look forward to more dramatic moments next week. It looks like something big is going down in Cambodia, and I know you will be there with me to see it all play out.

For more moment by moment Survivor talk and a chance to win cool Survivor stuff, check out my video analysis right here.